Stupidity confession

[plovett]

Here's my "confession" story.  I think I've told it before, but here goes anyway....

I adjusted all the valves on my 428.   Closed the hood.  Drove around for about 15 minutes.  Nailed it a few times.   Sounds great and I'm super happy.

So, I pull back into my garage.  As I'm pulling in I see my breaker bar with a big socket lying where my car was.   I also see a big bolt laying on the floor.  What the heck?  I started feeling bad at this point.

What had happened was I used my breaker bar and 15/16" socket to turn the engine over as I was adjusting the valves.  I got distracted and left it on there.......   when I started the engine the bar swung over hit the front subframe, or whatever it is over there.  The starter happily spun the balancer bolt all the way out 'till it fell on the floor.  Then I go driving off.  So the balancer didn't even have a bolt in it the whole time I was driving.

Maybe the balancer is a tight enough fit that it's no big deal, but it still makes me sick thinking about.  Imagine that balancer coming off at 6000 rpm......where's it gonna go?

There......feel better?   

[fryedaddy]

I intend to try and break a standard block in a couple weeks
I will let you know how it goes.

what are you going to do to try and break a block,big hp,high rpms?are you going to do it on the dyno?

[Heo]

Plovet i have seen a balancer coming of at high rpm.
I was riding with a friend in his Z28, He was engine
braking in second gear at a intersection then he flored
it and there was some loud thumps from the front and
i see the balacer escape to the left hitting the divider of
the street taking of straight up landing in the middle of
the intersection taking of down the road we newer found it

[plovett]

Plovet i have seen a balancer coming of at high rpm.
I was riding with a friend in his Z28, He was engine
braking in second gear at a intersection then he flored
it and there was some loud thumps from the front and
i see the balacer escape to the left hitting the divider of
the street taking of straight up landing in the middle of
the intersection taking of down the road we newer found it

Yeah, I was lucky.  That's why I still get a sick feeling when I think about it.

[BattlestarGalactic]

I also install solenoid valves backwards, but only when they have arrows on them.

That reminds me.....when I put the 237 motor in my Mack.  I hooked up the air shutterstat airlines backwards.  For the life of me I could not understand why after 15 yrs it suddenly would not open/close the shutters correctly.  I left the air line off it til I got some time to investigate.   Yup, after removing the valve(goes in water passage), I realized that when I screwed it in, it went 1/2 turn farther and I had the IN/OUT lines backwards which is clearly marked on one side(the back side of which I couldn't see when installed).  Ugh, once I swapped the lines it works PUURRRFECT again.   

[My427stang]

Feeling pretty stupid I just cashed out >2000 bucks on a 390.
Align bore, decked .005 below deck, .030 over forged pistons, rods re-sized ARP bolts.
Now the punch line, it's a garden variety cast in 69 block, it wasn't until just recently I learned that
390 blocks with reinforced webbing at the main saddles could be found rather easily, I feel dumb because I thought the beefed web blocks were exclusive to 427 blocks, CJ's and never gave it another thought, oh well I'm still confident in it being a good engine for my street driven fairlane, old school solid lifters cam and a 4 speed, nothing serious, 375hp maybe with the headers and R heads exhaust ports opened cj valves PI intake 735cfm cj carb, hot ignition good timing curve.

This is a fun post, but in all seriousness, there was no stupidity on your part.  You have a blueprinted block that is EASILY able to take a lot more power and will last as long as you can throw power at it.  I wouldn't lose a bit of sleep, even if it was a 500 hp 445.  A 390 crank is strong, the lower end on a 390 is strong, even without the extra webbing, and you did everything right to it to make it better. Enjoy it, it's going to be a real good one.

Man, as far as stories, I have WAY too many, especially when I was paying the bills pulling wrenches.  Here is a good one though.  Moldy old Ford van, one of those super long club ones.  Broke customer, pulled the 351W and put a junkyard 302 in it.  Wanted no work done to the JY motor because he was down on his luck.  Fired it up, wouldn't rev, looked at everything and held the throttle open a few times to see if something would indicate a problem, acted like a governor.

Finally, after checking all kinds of things, checked the oil and it was WAY overful, bad fuel pump filled the pan and the oil was pure gas. Changed the pump, changed the oil and it revved to the moon and lasted for years and years.  I like to think it was running out of fuel, but could have easily been seizing due to the lack of oil....got lucky on that one. 

Likely have 100 more stories, another quickie is my own 78 Grand Prix when I was working at Ford.  Pulled 301, installed built 455, backed out, felt strong, did a "back up and drop into low" burnout for all the other mechanics after hours...backed up, dropped into low, and sat there....bllew the tranny instantly, never turned a tire.   Boss looked at me like I was an idiot LOL Next job was swap Metric 200 for TH350.

[country63sedan]

I wouldn't worry a bit about what should be money well spent. You should have a solid 390 that will treat you  well.

Now for just one of many stupidity stories on my part. I was much younger and decided I needed to rebuild the carb on my truck. Got the truck back together and it wouldn't idle. It would run wound up, and I was upset about the whole thing. Beat it around the block and actually saw the gas gauge go down. Got back home - truck still running poorly. Start looking around the bench and found the main jet under a fold in the towel I was working on.  Problem solved. Later, Travis

[amdscooter]

Heh.. looks like a solid build to me.. go have fun with it.


One of my stupid stories I repeat often. I was in the USAF installing a fresh rebuilt 383 into my 70 Charger under the baking summer sun at Travis AFB hobby shop. Had the whole setup in, tranny mounted and all front accessories attached. Was installing the intake valley gasket and one of the guys helping out put 3 small bolts on it unbeknownst to me. I lifted it up to position it and watch with horror as all 3 bolts rolled off the gasket into the open cam galley and disappeared into the lower end. The short.. entire motor needed to be removed.. installed on a stand and rotated for about 15 minutes until they fell out. Good times.. ;p

[a70eliminator]

Thanks for all the words of encouragement, something trivial as saddle webbing in a plain jane 390, the shop owner (expert fe guy) said
"surprised there's no crows foot in this one"

I thought about those words all the way home, what was he talking about this was a plain ol block not an early solid lifter PI or HP block, turns out he knew exactly what he was looking at, glad I didn't question him and make a fool our myself.

[plovett]

Yeah, you will be fine with your block. 

It could be that the "crow's feet" have little or no effect on anything.  They might or might not.  There are so many things in hotrodding that are "accepted truth" that turn out not to be when tested scientifically.  I have two 391 blocks in my garage that have the crows feet.  I bought them because of that.  But I don't really know if that little addition of metal at that point makes a difference.  I think it likely does, but............the effect might be completely insignificant on your build.  I think that is likely so.

So hammer that 390 like you're trying to kill it.   It'll be awesome.

JMO,

paulie